PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Steelers restructured the contract of left tackle Marvel Smith on Friday to free up $2.55 million in salary cap space.

Smith will be paid the minimum-wage base salary of $540,000 in 2005 instead of the $3.95 million in salary he had been due. The remaining $3.4 million was paid to Smith this week as a signing bonus.
Prior to the 2003 season, Smith agreed to a six-year contract that included a $6 million signing bonus.

Last year, Smith restructured his base salary and was given $1.7 million in bonus money.

Over the last three years, Smith has been given $11.1 million in bonus money while making the NFL minimum in salary each year.

The Steelers need the money gained from the restructuring in order to sign their upcoming draft class. They also might use the money to negotiate multiple-year contracts for restricted free agents Chris Hope, Verron Haynes, Lee Mays or Brett Keisel.

the thing that worries me is, even if we draft a CB in the first round, do we really think he is gonna step in right away and start? Willie would most likely get the call, atleast to start the season till the rook has time under his belt. But we'll see how it goes.

oh it was a great move money wise, no doubt. Bell hasnt played a full healthy season since his rookie year. U just cant invest all kinds of money in a guy to stay in the training room all the time. and Foote is a beast at MLB beside Farrior. I have nothing but confidence in those 2.

Plax, well, he just wasnt happy anymore, if he ever was happy at all. he didnt like kordell, he liked tommy, and he liked ben..but he didnt like his role in the offense.

Heres the kicker when it comes to the cap games. One the cap keeps going up, so you gain a few million every year. B), we currently are paying players who aren't on our team. We could hopefully get out from this, or just substitute in new players to pay. IE - next year Gildon goes off the books. But in case something doesn't work with Marvel, then he stays on our books. The difference in the salary to signing bonus is offset by the number of years in the deal. The key is to not guess wrong on players who won't be on your team for the long haul(see Cleveland with Brown, Garcia, and Green?), and not to get lopsided in too much bonuses. So we are in good shape if you look at who we hope to have around(staley, farrior, smith, etc.) It would be different if we were reworking Bettis, Batch, Willliams), better to sign these players to contracts which can be voided, than to pay out cash bonuses.

The key is to not guess wrong on players who won't be on your team for the long haul(see Cleveland with Brown, Garcia, and Green?), and not to get lopsided in too much bonuses. .

That hits the nail right on the head right there... as long as our scouting team and FO keep getting good deals for our players, and new ones in FA, etc. We'll survive alot longer. Thank goodness our scout dept. is one of the best in the business, or we'd be sunk, or we'd be the cleveland browns..